cleaver

[klee-ver]

noun

1. a heavy, broad-bladed knife or long-bladed hatchet, especially one used by butchers for cutting meat into joints or pieces.

2. a person or thing that cleaves. cleave.

cleaver

/ ˈkliːvə /

noun

1. a heavy knife or long-bladed hatchet, esp one used by butchers

cleaver

1. A bifacial stone tool flaked to produce a straight, sharp, relatively wide edge at one end. Cleavers are early core tools associated primarily with the Acheulian tool culture.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cleaver¹

First recorded in 1325–75, cleaver is from the Middle English word clevere. See cleave ², -er ¹

Example Sentences

I came to love the satisfying thunk of the cleaver hitting the cutting board.

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One controversial campaign even depicted a baby lying next to a meat cleaver, sending the message that parents could be deadly weapons when sleeping next to a baby.

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At Wing, he serves sea cucumber inside a crispy spring roll, dramatically sliced tableside with a Chinese cleaver.

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The sheriff’s department’s incident summary stated that Deputy Gregory Chico shot Susan Lu, 56, after she refused commands to drop a meat cleaver and raised the blade “toward deputies.”

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Frankly, the film has so little on its mind in general that if a butcher’s cleaver slammed through its skull, it would strike cotton candy instead of gray matter.

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